Everybody's Column

Hold Silver accountable and choose a new speaker

Where is the outrage over Sheldon Silver's gross misconduct in handling the sexual harassment case involving Assemblyman Vito Lopez? Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mr. Law and Order, should be demanding Silver's resignation. The Assembly leadership should put forth a new candidate for speaker, advising Silver that he is no longer fit to lead the Assembly.We the voting public should ask our representatives what they plan on doing to hold Silver accountable for his actions. By doing nothing, we are by default endorsing his conduct. His actions may be legal, but they are not ethical. In the real world, Lopez would be fired. If an officer of a corporation attempted to resolve the matter as Silver did, he, too, would be fired.The "three men in a room" style of government must come to an end. This is the type of abuse that can occur when so much power is placed in the hands of so few. Let's rise up and make those we elected to represent us carry our message to Albany. Everyone must be accountable.Michael P. RyanEast Aurora

NFTA should continue service to Bills stadium

The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority has provided "Game Day Express Bus" service to and from Ralph Wilson Stadium on game days for the last 20-plus years. The buses left from five convenient locations across Western New York and would take Bills fans to and from the game for the cost of a "day pass."This year, the NFTA claims that, due to a bad economy and recent budget cuts, it will be unable to provide the service. Many of the riders on this bus were elderly and benefited greatly from this service. It was also a great way to get to the game without the hassle of driving and paying the outrageous $25 fee to park at the stadium.Can someone at the Bills organization work together with the NFTA to get these buses running again? Please do not leave your fans standing at the curb scrambling for a way to get to the game.Steve MarshDepew

Illegal immigrants need to be deported

I was audience to the teletown meeting sponsored by Sen. George Maziarz on Aug. 28. The topic of this meeting was a proposal by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver called the "Dream Act." This act would allow illegal aliens to apply for college aid in New York State at the expense of the taxpayers.The nature of a "teletown" meeting, a meeting using phone lines and mass calling as its forum, is to allow call-in questions and comments from constituents on the designated topic. Due to the volume of calls, my question was not chosen and I was not awarded a chance to comment. Almost 5,000 people were in attendance to hear Maziarz repeat his disagreement to this proposal.If my call had gotten through, I would have asked how this proposed legislation was possible at all. If you are an illegal alien, aren't you supposed to be arrested and deported? The fact that this "Dream Act" was even proposed makes me wonder if illegal aliens are presently living in our state public housing, receiving welfare and all the bounties that come with it and living the lives of "legal" aliens.Before we deal with affording these people educations, maybe first we should decide what to do about this attempted legislation. Maybe Silver should have to answer to this apparent attempt at "aiding and abetting" criminals.Doug HammondLockport

Article on political ads paints Obama unfairly

Balanced reporting got only the faintest of nods in the front-page News article featuring a picture of President Obama with the headline, "Truth torn to shreds by ads." The examples cited in the article are true and worthy of Politifact's "Pants on Fire" rating for two, false for one, and misleading, unfair and untrue for the fourth. However, the claims were made by the campaign or Sen. Harry Reid - not the president.Better balance would have been achieved if the article had quoted Tommy Christopher's recent analysis of Politifact ratings that stated "Mitt Romney's statements have been judged 'Mostly False,' 'False' or 'Pants on Fire' 46 percent of the time, versus only 29 percent for President Obama. Nearly one in 10 statements by Romney earned flaming slacks, versus one out of every 50 for Obama."Alan H. Lockwood, M.D.Buffalo

Romney must provide details on job creation

Now that Mitt Romney is the official candidate of the Republican Party maybe we could finally find out what his mysterious plan for job creation is. He has a plan, he tells us, but what is the plan? The devil is in the details. The president has proposed several job creation plans, but the party of "No" has rejected all of them.So what is Romney's plan exactly? Who and what will create them? The so-called job creators had 10 years of tax deductions to create jobs - where are they? Now they want even more tax deductions, but if the 10 years were not enough, how much and how long will it take?Jobs were created under President Bill Clinton with a higher tax rate, why not with a lower tax rate? There is such animosity toward President Obama that it seems the Republicans and their cohorts, the tea party, will do everything in their power to undermine everything he tries to do. I thought these representatives were elected to work for the people's good. When a senator makes a statement that his most important job is to prevent a second term for the president, it is time to wonder if these people know what their job is.Trudy WeberElma

Wing-eating contests are a shameful display

While it is commendable that this year's Chicken Wing Festival is donating funds to four deserving local charities, I find it disgusting, to say the least, to see photos of people gorging themselves on food, even if it is our local specialty. I wonder how the poor people of our community feel when they see this blatant excess of food being choked down "for the fun of it" - while they are fortunate enough to put a small meal on their table.Parents, is this the example of good table manners you want your children to emulate? And God forbid that the people of the Third World countries ever learn that we have so much food here in America that we have contests to see who can eat the most of it while others are starving. Shame on us.Sister Christine Diensberg, OSFStella Niagara